My first step to awareness on how I was treating myself was the insight that I wasn’t gentle towards me. 
And that I could be.
During a therapy session many years ago, my therapist saw me treating myself with mental boxing gloves, and pointed it out to me.
Why are you so hard on yourself?, she asked.
I was flabbergasted.
Because in asking, she implied there was another option. And I just had not seen that, had not known that.
So I asked Don’t I have to be?
She smiled her sweet and gentle smile at me, and told me how she would have handled the situation we’d just been discussing.
I broke down in tears, exclaiming I didn’t know that I don’t have to be harsh towards myself.
I truly didn’t know that gentle was available to me.
Do you? Do you know, deep within yourself, that you can be kind and gentle towards yourself?
First published on my blog on January 17th, 2016: https://helenaroth.com/doing-gentle-1-awareness/
Audio production: Søren Lassen Andreasen https://and.dk/
Photography: Anders Roos http://www.andersroos.nu/
Soundtrack: Olof Jennfors Ljudtjänst http://jennforsljud.se/